Sammy Wechter was first diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia at age 2, relapsed two weeks before her sixth birthday just as she was starting kindergarten, and spent more than a year and a half in and out of the hospital during each round of treatment. Now 17 and cancer-free for about 11 years, she has turned those memories into a nonprofit that delivers care packages to children living through the same kind of extended hospital stays she once endured.
Wechter was diagnosed with the blood cancer in 2011 and received her treatment at NYU Langone in New York City, according to ABC7 New York. Her twin brother, Noah Wechter, stayed by her side throughout treatment, the station reports. Years later, the two of them, along with Ari Odinec and two other childhood friends, launched A Spark To Inspire, a nonprofit built around non-technological entertainment for kids stuck in hospital beds.
Born From Memories of Boredom and Isolation
Wechter has said she remembered feeling different during her hospital stays, and at one point described watching portable toilets get lifted by cranes outside the window as her only entertainment at the adult hospital, per the station's report. That sense of being overlooked, she said, is part of why she wanted to give back to the hospital that treated her. Ari Odinec, now a co-founder of the organization, has supported Wechter from the beginning, the same account notes.
On the nonprofit's own site, A Spark To Inspire describes its mission as shining a light on the mental-health needs of pediatric patients by bringing them joy, opportunities, resources and role models, according to asparktoinspire.org. The group says its goal is to become a small part of as many children's journeys as possible throughout New York City. Sammy and her lifelong friend Ari consulted healthcare professionals while building out the care packages, the nonprofit's about page states.
What's Inside the Boxes
A Spark To Inspire's kits include arts and crafts supplies, books and games, as well as birthday setups and baby essentials for younger patients, according to the nonprofit and ABC7's reporting. Volunteers pack the kits on Manhattan's Upper West Side before they head out to kids facing extended hospital stays. As the organization has grown, Noah and Kai joined the team as CFO and COO, per asparktoinspire.org.
NYU Langone has sent the nonprofit photos of children who received the kits, ABC7 reports. Dr. Bill Carroll, a member of Wechter's care team at the hospital, said the activities provide a significant distraction for pediatric patients enduring treatment, according to the station. Noah Wechter has said that playing games with his sister during her hospital stays brought him joy, and he hopes the kits can do the same for other families now going through it.
How A Spark To Inspire Compares
A Spark To Inspire is a newer entrant in a field of hospital-support nonprofits that have scaled up over years of operation. Project Sunshine says it sends close to 100,000 activity kits annually to medical facilities across the United States and Canada, according to projectsunshine.org, and the group has reported packing and delivering 130,000 kits in a prior year on a separate page of its site. Project Sunshine has also expanded its standard kit lineup from five varieties to 11, adding STEM, sensory and caregiver-focused options meant to better serve teens and patients with behavioral-health needs.
Other groups operate at smaller but still substantial scale. Caitlin's Smiles reports sending about 200 varieties of craft kits to hospitals each year, including coping kits and Camp-in-a-Bag packages that were created after in-person pediatric medical camps were canceled during the summer of 2020, per caitlins-smiles.org. Anna's Gift Foundation, a fully volunteer-run organization, says it now makes roughly 6,000 to 7,000 kits annually for children's hospitals around the country, according to annasgift.org — a scale it built up gradually after first partnering with Hershey Children's Center in 2013 to supply 100 kits.
For now, Wechter's focus remains closer to home. A Spark To Inspire currently provides kits to children within New York City, though she has said she hopes it could potentially expand beyond the city if the model works and there's interest elsewhere. Asked about that possibility, Wechter said she would welcome the nonprofit growing anywhere, as long as it keeps working and people want it there, according to ABC7's report.
